Yes I had trouble playing back h.265 videos on the tv, even through my dvd usb drive, and that wasnt that old.
Maybe these devices can have a firmware update.
I can understand why google uses VP9, to put that extra barrier there to stop these ripper programs from grabbing everything. Though as you have said, its easy to get around.
A lot of companies still use .flv files. It's possible to convert them to .mp4 files. FLV reminds me a lot of RM (from the Real Player era).